Seacurus News

Specialist marine insurance intermediary Seacurus has launched a petro-piracy endorsement for ships operating in the South China Sea, Malacca Straits, Indonesian Archipelago and Gulf of Guinea. South-East Asia accounted for three-quarters of global maritime piracy last year, according to figures published by the International Maritime Bureau. A surge in tanker hijackings helped fuel a 22 per cent jump in armed robbery and pirate attacks on ships in the region. There were 183 actual and attempted incidents of piracy and robbery in South-East Asian waters last year, compared to 150 in 2013. Denis Nifontov, Head of Marine K&R at Seacurus, believes these numbers will hold steady in 2015.

Specialist marine insurance intermediary Seacurus says that overall confidence in the successful implementation of the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC) should not conceal the fact that there is continuing concern over the risk of abandonment and the timely payment of crew wages. Thomas Brown, managing director of Seacurus, says, “Recent figures from the Paris Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Port State Control indicate that the MLC Convention is being well-enforced, with 113 ship detentions relating to MLC deficiencies recorded since MLC 2006 entered into force on 20 August, 2013. “Overall, it seems that progress is being made and that MLC can deliver on its promises.

During a recent tour of northeast England, Lord Livingston, the UK’s Minister for Trade and Investment, visited the Gateshead headquarters of Seacurus which, in April 2013, launched CrewSEACURE, the first ever insurance policy designed exclusively to protect the rights of seafarers when ships are abandoned at sea. Seacurus has a well-established relationship with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI), having received expert advice and support from its Passport to Export scheme which helped the company to develop 99 percent of its insurance premium income from overseas markets.

Specialist marine insurance intermediary Seacurus says that reported doubts about the insurance industry’s ability to insure the liability for unpaid wages of abandoned seafarers under the Maritime Labor Convention 2006 are inaccurate and ill-founded. It is already an agreed principle under MLC 2006, which came into force in August 2013, that liability for the unpaid wages of seafarers currently falls to the recruitment and placement services which help seafarers find employment at sea.

Barbican Group Holdings Limited (Barbican) announced that it has acquired Seacurus Ltd (Seacurus), a U.K.-based specialist marine insurance broker. Established in 2004, Seacurus focuses specifically on revenue protection in the marine insurance market. A provider of marine kidnap and ransom insurance, the company offers a range of products designed to help companies in the shipping industry manage a wide variety of operating and financial risks. Seacurus will continue to operate under its current brand. Details of the transaction have not been disclosed. In April 2013 Seacurus launched CrewSEACURE, an insurance product for employers of seafarers required to meet regulatory obligations under the Maritime Labor Convention 2006 and the International Guidelines on Seafarer Abandonment.

Specialist  marine insurance intermediary Seacurus has welcomed the decision of Lloyd’s to amend its risk codes to include a new class of insurance covering seafarer abandonment (SA). Lloyd’s provides guidance to underwriters on the classification of business into various categories using a risk coding scheme which provides a common basis for the classification and description of risk. Thomas Brown, managing director of UK-based Seacurus, says, “This new class of insurance is very welcome and very timely. Seafarer Abandonment (SA) is classed as financial guarantee insurance, meaning that any Lloyd’s syndicate wanting to write it will need approval from the Lloyd’s performance directorate to do so.

Seacurus has launched a new insurance policy to indemnify seafarers in the event of the financial default of their employers. CrewSEACURE is a new insurance product now available to all employers of seafarers required to satisfy new regulatory obligations under the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 and the International Guidelines on Seafarer Abandonment. The new policy, CrewSEACURE, provides up to USD10m of cover in the event of an employer’s financial default. It includes personal accident protection and covers medical expenses as well as subsistence and repatriation costs.

Specialist marine insurance intermediary Seacurus launched a new insurance policy to indemnify seafarers in the event of the financial default of their employers which, for the first time, offers recompense in respect of unpaid crew wages. The policy will enable all employers of seafarers to meet their regulatory obligations under the Maritime Labor Convention 2006 (MLC), which enters force on August 20, 2013. The new policy, CrewSeacure, provides up to $10 million of cover in the event of an employer’s financial default.